WEBVTT
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Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and our Savior
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Jesus Christ.
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Amen.
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The text for our sermon today is going to be Psalm 121.
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You can see it printed in your bulletin.
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Or you can open up your Bibles to Psalm 121 as we go along.
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We just heard it sung by Sarah, and she did a marvelous job of
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capturing the assurance the psalmist has in the Lord.
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He has such assurance in the Lord, and she picks up on it by repeating
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that first verse multiple times in her song.
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She really brings out that assurance.
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I will lift up my eyes to the hills, for there I will find help.
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Masterfully done in no small way.
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And the psalmist certainly does have help.
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When I read this psalm, I like to think about two people helping each
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other on a journey.
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You could think about a shepherd and his companion.
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You could think about Abram and Sarah, or Abram and Lott.
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You could think about Augustine and his students.
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You could think about Luther and Melanchthon.
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You could think about you and yourself and the person sitting behind
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you in the pew.
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I like to think about two people going on a journey in this psalm
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because it's really signaled by this
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I you split between verses two and three in the text.
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And so the psalmist begins by repeating this question that was asked
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of him.
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He repeated it back to his companion and then answers it, which is
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just a great pedagogical tool for all you prospective Vicars out
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there.
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You should probably write that one down somewhere.
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So he repeats the question back to him there in verse one.
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From where does my help come?
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Well, my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
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I lift up my eyes and I see all of creation.
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I see the mountains, I see the valleys, the hills, and everything
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between.
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I see the big trees and the little bugs, and I think, My God, this is
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incredible.
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And my God has created all of this with just a single word, just the
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breadth of his mouth.
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So you ask, from where does my help come?
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And I say, look around you.
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My help comes from the Creator who gave you 2 feet to stand on, my
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friend.
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The power which which separated the heavens from the earth is my God,
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and he is my help.
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What more needs to be said than that?
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Right?
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Question answered.
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Problem solved.
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Next.
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I think often we think we're trying to solve the problem.
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We're trying to answer the question they have, and so often it's not
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the case.
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We're not giving them enough space to doubt.
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We're not giving them enough space to express themselves.
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I had a friend call me
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one time.
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This particular friend is an atheist, but we've been friends for a
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long time, and so we both understand that there are just certain
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philosophical differences between the two of us.
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And so he calls me one night, and if you know anything about
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millennials, then you know that we hate talking on the phone.
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So this was serious.
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He called me because he was in a very low, very deep, very dark place.
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at this point in his life
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living was scarier than death.
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There was this perfect pregnant pause right there.
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And I hesitated.
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I hesitated because I knew what I wanted to say would not go over
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well, but I just had to say it.
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I said, you know, you're never alone.
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I'm here for you always, whenever you need it, of course.
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But even when I'm not around, God is there.
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And I left it at that because I wanted Him to respond.
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I wanted to have a deeper conversation.
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I didn't want to just be monologuing at him.
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And there was a long pause.
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He said, you know, I'm glad that works for you, Josh, but my heart
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just sank.
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We're so often tempted to wonder the worst about God.
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A musician once saying that, you can ride with me through the veins of
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history, and I'll show you a God who falls asleep on the job.
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Our psalmist traveling companion might have said something similar.
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Oh, well, that's good for you.
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I'm glad that your help comes from the Lord.
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But what about me?
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God must have fallen asleep when I call on Him.
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It could be anything big or anything small.
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It could be something like, God, you fell asleep when I stepped into
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that puddle all the way to you fell asleep when I got into that car
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crash.
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Or, God, you were asleep when I had that first miscarriage.
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Or you were certainly asleep when 20,000 people died in an earthquake
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overnight.
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Yeah
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if there is a God, he fell asleep on the job a long time ago.
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But our psalmist won't waver.
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He prays.
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He shares a prayer in verse 3.
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May your foot not be moved.
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He who keeps you will not slumber.
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This prayer is not is not empty words.
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These are words which care deeply for the person.
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These are words of faith.
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Behold
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he says, Hane, pay attention.
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Look.
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He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
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This God, our God, reminds us.
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He reminds us that our God is one who acts in history.
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Our God is not standing wholly outside of what we see and experience.
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He has not pulled away from his handiwork.
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No, he is upholding it in his gracious love and goodness.
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In the beginning, God traced that horizon.
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His words separated the waters from the sky, and his very breath gave
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life to Adam.
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God walked with Adam, and when Adam fell, he delivered his promise to
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restore all things to him in person, not by email.
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God then chose a very specific group of people to carry on those
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promises, and he preserved them time and time again through tangible
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people and worldly events.
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It's no small fact that God took on flesh while Quirinius was governor
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in Syria and that he suffered and died and was buried under Pontius
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Pilate.
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These historical truths are more than gotchas in an argument against
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somebody.
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They're more than a historical puzzle to be solved.
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God entered into history to preserve his people for his purposes, and
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he still does that today.
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The church is a very real, tangible place where God delivers His Word
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and his sacrament.
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So, yes, Hane, behold, pay attention.
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The God who preserved Israel in time and in space preserves you for
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his purposes, too.
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And like a tree planted by the water, he will not let you be moved.
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So, first year, I attended a new member class where the pastor was
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talking about the fourth petition, the Daily Bread petition.
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And Luther's, meaning we just heard about that on Friday.
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And after class, a guy comes up to me and he says, so all of this,
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this whole God has given you everything you need for body and soul
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food, drink, house, home, land, animals, devout husband, devout wife,
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devout children, good reputation, all of that.
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Isn't Luther just being a little bit idealistic, especially
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considering the living condition of the medieval peasantry at the
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time?
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I said, Well, I'm just a seminarian let me go find the pastor for
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you. Because this was a guy who had lost everything.
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I knew his story.
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He had lost his wife.
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His children hated him.
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He had lost his house, he lost his job and had to join the military.
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So how was I going to speak to that?
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How was I going to answer him?
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Well, our psalmist would have simply laid it on thicker the promises
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of God.
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The Lord is your keeper.
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He moves on.
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The Lord is your your keeper, your shade.
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The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
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And He will preserve you're coming out and you're coming in from this
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time forth and forevermore.
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Wow.
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What an assertion that is.
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So not only does God keep your feet planted, but you are in the shadow
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of his wing every second of every day.
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The sun and the moon could literally fall on you, but they would not
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strike you dead.
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We don't experience that now, but that's our vision forward.
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That's the now
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not yet.
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Because as Christ lives, you live in Him.
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So God never sleeps on the job, even when our experience screams to
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the contrary.
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He has provided his church as a place for his promises to be doled
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out, for comfort and for building the faith.
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But He's given the church tangible work to do in the meantime.
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So my days of using that seminary excuse are numbered.
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Use it while you can, but use it to prepare yourself, to prepare
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yourself to give an account of the hope that is within you.
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Psalm 121 has given you one way to answer. That
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God does not fall asleep on the job.
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He acts in time and in place, in the church and in your life in big,
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transformative, life changing ways and in very small, mundane moments.
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There once was an orphan who remembered only one lesson from his
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father.
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It was a rainy day tradition.
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He would share his umbrella with strangers.
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He would walk them across the street from the train station to the
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grocery store or to the post office.
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One lady noticed the orphan had a wet shoulder and asked him, do you
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know you're being rained on?
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Your shoulder is wet.
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And the orphan said, A wet shoulder is my badge of honor.
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The secret of sharing an umbrella means you keep the person next to
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you dry.
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And so a wet shoulder proves how much that person means to you.
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Some of us are nearing the end of our seminary
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journey here together.
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It's quickly approaching and others are just now beginning their
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journey.
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But remember that God is at work, even in something as simple as a
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sung psalm, a phone call, a new member class, or even just a wet
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shoulder.
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Now may the peace peace of God, which surpasses all of our
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understanding, keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.
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Amen.